Condition Critical
by Guardian Collective
Summary: The Mainframers must make their way through the defence-activated labyrinthine corridors of the Principle Office to confront Megabyte once and for all.
1. The Hunt Begins, Part I

Reboot: Condition Critical,  
1.1, The Hunt Begins.  
  
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A/N: There are different time conversions used while writing ReBoot fanfics, and mine goes as follows: second/nano, minute/milli, hour/cycle, day/second, month/minute, and year/hour. Also, this is a Season V fic.  
  
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"Prepare yourselves for the hunt," Megabyte's words echoed throughout the entire Principle Office, striking terror into the hearts of all.  
  
--**--**--  
  
Matrix grabbed for Gun, but Bob put his hand on the renegade's arm. Matrix looked the Guardian in the eye and demanded, "What are you doing, Bob? We have to get Megabyte!"  
  
"No Matrix. If what he said is true, then we have to find any survivors before anything so we can plan out and attack in numbers," he explained. He sighed, and continued. "I know you hate Megabyte, and what he just did to Dot and I is unforgivable, but if we just run into the War Room guns a-blazing, we'll be deleted, or even worse, infected."  
  
"I don't care, Bob! He's terrorized Mainframe for too long! He hurt my sister and everyone I care for!" Matrix let out in rage. He turned and punched the wall, yelling, "Megabyte!"  
  
Bob put his hand on his friend's shoulder and said, "It's okay Matrix. We'll get him."  
  
--**--**--  
  
Mouse slammed her fist against the control panel and let out one of her infamous hisses. The annoying beep went off as she entered yet another incorrect password, and she drew her katana and sliced at the wall beside it, not wanting to damage her and AndrAIa's closest entrance to the War Room, which they knew was where Megabyte was, along with Phong and anyone else he had infected.  
  
"Calm down, Mouse," the former Game Sprite instructed, still keeping a close watch on the three open corridors, any of which they could be attacked from at any moment by any viral or form of the Principal Office's defence system.  
  
"Calm down, sug'? How can I calm down when Megabyte's in there with complete control over the Principle Office?" She looked behind her at AndrAIa and asked, "Didn't you see what Phong did for us? He sacrificed himself so we could escape. If you don't do anything, and just let that virus overrun Mainframe and delete all of us, Phong's efforts will be put to vain."  
  
AndrAIa bowed her head for a split moment, and then lifted it, saying, "First things first -- we find Bob, Matrix, Dot, the boys, and anyone else who got out of the War Room intact. Then we can see what to do."  
  
Mouse stood silent, but let in and agreed through gritted teeth.  
  
"Good. Now let's get going."  
  
"But which corridor do we take, AndrAIa?" Mouse asked, drawing her dagger from its leg sheath. "I didn't see which one Hack and Slash dragged Dot down."  
  
AndrAIa shrugged, so the two of them quietly studied each of the three corridors, and listened to see if they could hear either Dot, Hack, or Slash's voice, but they didn't, so the former Game Sprite called out, "Dot, where are you?"  
  
They waited for a response, but none came.  
  
Frustrated, Mouse threw her katana and dagger to the floor and let out the loudest hiss AndrAIa had ever heard her do. The hacker then violently shook her head, and instantly being filled with energy, turned and jump-kicked the door that let into the War Room, though it didn't make even the slightest dent in it.  
  
"We may not know which corridor Dot went down, but I'll tell you," AndrAIa started, "a wrong one would be better than Megabyte and his ABCs finding us here in this little hunt he's talking about."  
  
Mouse got up, so AndrAIa picked up her katana and dagger and handed them to her, and then took her own trident in hand and extended it, gripping it in a defensive position extended out in front of her with two hands.  
  
"Maybe we should try calling out to her one more time before picking a corridor," Mouse suggested, not wanting to get separated any further from Dot, Hack, and Slash than they already were.  
  
"Right. Dot! Where are you? It's me AndrAIa, and Mouse is with me! Where are you?"  
  
They waited in silence for a response, and when none came, they decided on taking the left corridor because they thought taking the middle would be too basic for Dot and anyone else who was running from a new and improved, ticked off Megabyte.  
  
--**--**--  
  
Dot listened to Megabyte's speech, and then started adjusting her plan to accommodate the Virus's words, not fully comprehending them, and completely ignoring the bumbling ranting of her two bodyguards.  
  
"Hunt? What does he mean by 'hunt'?" Hack questioned his brother.  
  
"He's going to come delete us all!" Slash yelled in terror. "Aaahhh!" He started running round in circles, as did Hack, who was equally terrified by Megabyte's new intention that had nothing to do with simply taking over Mainframe.  
  
Dot, at the same time, wasn't concerned with Megabyte's words because she still hadn't fully processed them, but rather was still in deep thought sketching out multiple plans in her head, preparing mainly for anything wrong that may happen, rather than for if everything went smoothly as she wanted it to. But, she had had past experiences that proved the need for a backup plan, and often more than one at that, so whenever she did plan out, she usually did so for at least five different scenarios, which she thought to be the reason for her high stress levels ever since Enzo - no, Matrix - and AndrAIa, along with Frisket, lost that fatal Game to the User.  
  
The Command.Com then started thinking off topic by pondering where Frisket was at the moment, and how Megabyte had ever gotten the chance to steal his form. She also thought about Matrix, and whatever happened in the Games to make him such a renegade and how he lost his eye. A wave of questions flooded her, and she tried to start answering them, but was cut off when Hack actually ran into her, knocking her back into reality, where Megabyte's speech played out in her head full out. "Oh no."  
  
"I'm sorry, sir ma'am," the buffoon apologized, holding his hands defensively in front of his face. "I didn't mean to - he," he said, pointing to Slash, "pushed me."  
  
"Liar!" Slash screeched, not wanting to anger Dot, though he knew he had indeed pushed his brother, of whom he was jealous of for circling faster than him. "Alright, I admit, I did it! Please don't hit me!"  
  
Dot watched Slash cower, and asked, "How many times have I hit either of you, and even for doing something way worse than this?"  
  
Slash turned to Hack and said, "She's right."  
  
He replied, "Yep, she's right."  
  
They both then looked at her, and simultaneously questioned loudly, "What's the plan?"  
  
"I'm still trying to think, boys, so just keep quiet and watch, and if you hear anyone, just stay quiet," the Command.Com instructed. So, they did what she told them to do while she continued to think of a plan that didn't involve the three of them instantly finding Bob and Matrix, who she knew they would most likely need to take out Megabyte.  
  
She continued to think, and Hack and Slash continued to keep watch, until they all heard a faint, muffled voice call out, "Dot, where are you?" It sounded like AndrAIa.  
  
"It's AndrA-" Hack started, but was stopped when Slash covered his mouth with his hand.  
  
"Dot said to be quiet," he whispered, looking back and forth down the corridor. He then turned to Dot and asked in a coarse whisper, "Did you hear that? It sounded like AndrAIa."  
  
Dot nodded and responded, just as quiet, "It may be Megabyte."  
  
"But it's AndrAIa's voice!" Hack shouted in a whisper. "How can it not be her?"  
  
"Remember when Megabyte took Bob's form? No one could tell it wasn't him, and Phong's sensors couldn't even pick up the difference. And, I couldn't tell it was Megabyte," she added in a sorrow tone, still haunted by the fact that she couldn't tell the difference between Bob and Megabyte, and had almost married the now-Trojan Horse Virus. "It'd be best to just keep moving until we get to the Holding Cell Room; maybe then we'll find Bob and Matrix if they haven't already taken off for the War Room. I mean, if either of them had any common sense, they'd wait there for everyone to meet up with them."  
  
Hack and Slash nodded in sync, and the three were about to start making their way in the direction of the Holding Cell Room, when they heard AndrAIa's voice call out again, this time asking, "Dot! Where are you? It's me AndrAIa, and Mouse is with me! Where are you?"  
  
Dot touched her pointer finger to her lips, and motioned for the brothers to follow her down the hall. So, they followed her in the direction of the Holding Cell Room, hoping to find Bob, Matrix, and any other escapees waiting there for them.  
  
--**--**--  
  
Bob and Matrix walked down the corridor back-to-back, keeping an eye out for any oncoming object, slowly making their way to the War Room, where they hoped anyone who had escaped Megabyte would be waiting for them, neither thinking they should stay and wait in the Holding Cell Room, where everyone else would probably go in hope of meeting up with them so they could attack Megabyte in the War Room together.  
  
As they walked silently, Matrix had a tight grip on Gun with his eye's targeting system set in infrared mode, while Bob held his arm just above where Glitch was, in case he needed to use its laser blast. Neither of them loosened their grips, for they were full of a mix of anxiety and terror, though neither would admit to feeling either, as they thought it would destroy their reputations if word ever got out of it. But that was only if they made it out of the Principle Office alive.  
  
They continued to walk so, until a slight buzzing noise in the near-distance broke the silence.  
  
"Bob, do yo-" Matrix stopped dead in his tracks and started, but was cut off by Bob saying, "I hear it."  
  
"What do you think it is?" the renegade questioned, never before being in that section of the Principle Office. "Do you think maybe it's Megabyte or one of his ABCs?"  
  
"No, it's much worse, Matrix."  
  
"What do you mean, 'much worse'?" he asked.  
  
"It's the Principle Office's defence system; Megabyte must've activated it."  
  
"This is bad, very bad," Matrix muttered while shaking his head, utilizing one of the Guardian's infamous quotes.  
  
"Even worse than bad," Bob stated, quickly looking from side-to-side, anticipating an attack from whatever defence mechanism Megabyte had set the system to use.  
  
--**--**--  
  
Megabyte chuckled after delivering his speech, and looked over the War Room as the mindless drones he had infected worked away at setting up the security cameras to televise his hunt to the whole of Mainframe.  
  
"You won't win, Mega Breath!" Enzo screamed, trying to squirm his way out of his infected father's tight, robotic grip. "Bob, and Matrix, and Dot, and AndrAIa, and Mouse will come here and kick your can!"  
  
"Maybe so, little boy, but you, well you can't do anything," the Virus mused, thinking back to before he was sent to the Web, and when he had first encountered the grown up Matrix, and remembered the amazement he had felt at his change. "Your sister and the idiots can't do any harm to me, and the Game Sprite and Hacker can't crack their way back in here. As for the Guardian and the renegade Guardian, well, I have a little surprise for them to warm them up before I make my move on them."  
  
Welman chuckled, wanting to please his master.  
  
"Dad, you're not supposed to laugh at that!" Enzo whined, though he knew it was only because he was infected.  
  
The War Room abruptly fell into silence, but was then interrupted by a faint hiss.  
  
"Ha-ha-ha," Megabyte laughed, amused. "It appears as though Mouse can't get in here...too bad. But no matter; I'll be seeing her and the vixen soon enough." He rubbed his chin, and pointed to one of the working drones, commanding, "Have you activated the defence system near the Holding Cell Room, as well as the labyrinthine walls in the whole of the Principle Office?"  
  
"Yes, Lord Megabyte," the Binome replied, not taking its eyes from its workstation.  
  
"Very good. And you," he said, pointing to another Binome, "have the security cameras been channelled for viewing for the rest of the system yet?"  
  
The Binome drowsily nodded, saying, "They are all being broadcasted for all of Megaframe to see."  
  
Megabyte's head cocked. "What did you say?"  
  
"They are all being broadcasted for all of Megaframe to see," the drone repeated.  
  
"Megaframe?"  
  
"Yes, my lord."  
  
"Did I not make myself specific when I said I didn't want to take over Mainframe?"  
  
"Yes, my lord."  
  
"Then why in the Net would you call it Megaframe?"  
  
"I'm sorry, my lord."  
  
The Virus shook his head in disgust. "It's too late to be sorry, slave."  
  
The Binome continued working, not realizing what was to come, and dropped offline when one of Megabyte's spiked tentacles pierced through its mid-block.  
  
"Clean up this mess," he growled. "I don't want to be reminded of that incompetent fool's pathetic failure."  
  
The drones closest to the offline Binome instantly went to work in disposing of its body, while Enzo continued to squirm, shouting out Megabyte with lines such as, "You'll pay for that Mega Breath," "Matrix is going to kick your ASCII," and, "You're lucky I'm being held back!"  
  
Megabyte simply chuckled, and moving closer to the young Sprite and touching his forehead with his hand, began copying Enzo's code to use in the first part of his hunt.  
  
--**--**--  
  
Mouse cautiously peeked around the corner, and signalling to AndrAIa with her left hand, turned the corner and continued down the path they had chosen to take, hoping it would lead them to the Holding Cell Room, as neither of them had ever been in the Principle Office other than the War Room, Phong's Office, the Recreation Room, the Science Lab, and a few of the small public rooms between the both of them.  
  
"Mouse," AndrAIa called out from behind the Hacker, "are you sure this is the right way?"  
  
She turned, shrugged, and confessed, "No, but sug', it's safe to say that being lost in any off-course corridors is better than knowing where we are nearby the War Room, what with Megabyte's talking of this little hunt of his."  
  
"I suppose you're right, but still, I'd feel a whole lot safer knowing where we're heading, especially if the direction is toward Bob and Matrix."  
  
"Me too, AndrAIa," Mouse sympathized with the former Game Sprite, still making her way cautiously down the hall. "Me too."  
  
--**--**--  
  
As Bob and Matrix crouched low to the ground in anticipation of the Principle Office's defence system, the low buzzing got closer and closer until it was just around the corner from them.  
  
"Get ready," Bob commanded, though he knew he didn't have to tell Matrix what to do, as he had been fully informed of his and AndrAIa's exploits in the Games and foreign systems when they had been reunited in the Web aboard the Saucy Mare. "Whatever it is, it's going to be dangerous; Phong would never load a half-ASCII defence mechanism into the Principle Office's system."  
  
"Right," Matrix agreed, gritting his teeth and tightly clenching Gun, his eyes fixated on the corner where whatever it was that was approaching them seemed to be waiting for them to take the initiative.  
  
They waited for a couple millies, and when the buzzing remained stationary, Matrix leaned in close to his Guardian friend and asked, "What's it doing, Bob? Why isn't it attacking us?"  
  
"I think it's an attack-on-sight mechanism, probably a Shifter or Fragger," he tried to answer as best he could, having never really studied the Principle Office's defence system much, as he had never thought the Principle Office could be overrun and used against them, by Megabyte no less. "As long as we remain still, we'll be safe."  
  
"No can do, Bob," the renegade stated, lunging from his spot halfway through his sentence, hoisting Gun in a shooting position and ready to round the corner to meet whatever was waiting for them face-to-face.  
  
"Matrix! No!" he shouted, also rising to his feet and rushing to turn the corner.  
  
But what they both saw was nothing but a Sweeper, cleaning the corridor floor.  
  
"Ha-ha," Matrix let out at what he thought was his and Bob's stupidity, pointing at the cleaning tool with his free hand. "We were worried about a Sweeper."  
  
"Uh, Matrix?"  
  
"Yeah Bob?"  
  
"Cleaning is only the Sweepers' primary function," he reminded the gun-toting hothead.  
  
"You mean," he began, "that we're not safe?"  
  
"Exactly."  
  
"Oh. Crap."  
  
As the Sweeper shot out a laser blast from the turret that had emerged from its 'head' while the two were talking, Bob and Matrix dove away from the cleaning tool in opposite directions, neither avoiding the dangerous beam by very much. Also, two swinging arms armed with saw blades emerged from the Sweeper's body, as well as an armoured vest of spikes that covered the entire bot's bodice.  
  
The two both instantly bounced back to their feet, and shot the Sweeper down with Gun and Glitch, and as they began to celebrate their victory, heard the same buzzing sound the Sweeper had made come from all directions in what sounded to be an excessive amount.  
  
Matrix sent a worried look at Bob, who responded by solemnly saying, "This is bad, very bad."  
  
--**--**--  
  
Little Enzo Matrix walked down the corridor, looking as innocent as he normally was, only it wasn't really him, but rather Megabyte in disguise, beginning his hunt for the Mainframers who, much to his pleasure, were scattered about in the labyrinthine corridors of the Principle Office, and also to his liking, were to be moved around even more by the shifting walls that one of his drones had activated.  
  
"Ready or not, here I come," Mega-Enzo chanted, predatorily making his way through the maze. "And you better watch out, or else this little Horse will stomp all over you."  
  
--**--**--  
  
Dot spun around and chastised Hack, who had just bumped into her, causing her heart to skip a beat. "What are you doing?" she shouted, forgetting to keep her voice low. "You nearly scared the data right out of me!"  
  
"I'm so sorry, sir ma'am. I tripped over my own foot," the red bot tried to apologize with an unconvincing lie, because it was well known to all three of them that neither he nor Slash had feet, but rather moved around on a scroll wheel, and the Principle Office floors were free of any possible dents, bumps, or potholes for the scroll wheel to get stuck in, so both Dot stared him down while his brother smacked the side of his head, cursing, "You moron! Watch where you're going!"  
  
Dot listened while Slash shouted out Hack, actually finding humour in it in the dark situation they currently found themselves, but shortly after told him to back off and said, "Just don't follow me so closely next time, boys. And remember -- if you hear anything, don't make a sound."  
  
"Yes sir ma'am," Hack replied.  
  
"Roger that," Slash stated.  
  
"Who's Roger?" asked the red bot.  
  
"No one's Roger."  
  
"You said, 'Roger that'," Hack repeated his brother's words.  
  
"It's just a phrase."  
  
"A phrase?"  
  
"Something people say," Slash informed.  
  
"I know what a phrase is."  
  
"Then act like it!"  
  
"What if I don't want to?"  
  
Slash was about to reply, but didn't do so when he saw the hateful and annoyed look on Dot's face. "I'm sorry, Dot."  
  
"Me too," Hack chimed.  
  
She shook her head, muttering, "Of everyone who was in the War Room, I had to get stuck with the idiots."  
  
Hack and Slash mopefully looked down at the floor.  
  
"I'm sorry boys, but right now you're just getting on my nerves and I can't think up plans when I'm being annoyed," the Command.Com tried to justify her words.  
  
"We know, but we can't help it -- that's how Megabyte made us," Hack defended.  
  
"When Megabyte made you? What does that mean?"  
  
"It means that Megabyte made us," Slash said.  
  
"I know that, but I didn't know he made you two -- I thought you guys were pre-built and he just took you in as his henchmen."  
  
"Nope, he built us himself to be strong and stupid," Slash recited.  
  
"I don't think he purposely made you two stupid, but rather failed in just making you extremely loyal to him," Dot suggested.  
  
"Nope, he built us to be strong and stupid," Hack backed up his brother's words, trying to remember back to the first mission he and his brother had done for Megabyte, but he came up short and lost interest in it long before anyway, so he repeated his sentence.  
  
"Why would he make you guys stupid? I've always seen Megabyte as being appreciative of intellect and strategy."  
  
"Don't ask us; he made us," they both said at the same time.  
  
Dot shrugged it off, and re-evaluating their present situation and position, started planning what to do, though personally, she was getting sick and tired of always planning, and actually briefly contemplated playing out the scenario on-the-fly, as Bob often, or rather always, did, something which she had always scolded him for doing. But of course, Dot being Dot, she left the thought alone and motioned for Hack and Slash to follow her.  
  
"Oka-" Hack started, but stopped himself by clasping his hands over his mouth, while Slash raised his finger to his own mouth and shushed him.  
  
Dot gave her head a slight shake and continued on her way, trying to creep as stealthily as possible, not wanting to run into any kind of defence mechanism Megabyte may have set to watch over all who were making their way through the maze. At that thought, all she could think about was how everyone else was doing.  
  
--**--**--  
  
The corridor looked to be longer than any of the others they had taken, so naturally Mouse and AndrAIa thought it was the last one before they reached the Holding Cell Room, but much to their surprise, its end actually broke into five separate paths.  
  
"My ASCII," Mouse grumbled, snorting at their predicament. "Why in the Net are these corridors so darn confusing?"  
  
AndrAIa remained silent for fear of making Mouse mad, though she knew she would never try to hurt her, but would rather lose her cool and start a temper tantrum, which would probably bring more damage to them than any type of defence mechanism Megabyte had set the Principle Office to use, if he had activated any at all, though they thought he didn't because they believed it would be too out of character for the now-Trojan Horse Virus, especially with what he said about a hunt.  
  
"Well," the Hacker said, looking back to AndrAIa, "which way do you think we should take?"  
  
AndrAIa shook her head in what appeared to be a mix of confusion and disbelief.  
  
"What's wrong, hun?" she asked, noticing the look on AndrAIa's face. "You look like you were just partially magnetized or got some energy sucked out of you by a Web Creature."  
  
"No, it's something else...something I can hear," she replied, not caring to remind Mouse that she had indeed been completely sucked of energy by a Web Creature before and had to be saved by Bob, which was when they had reunited with him in the Web. "It sounds like rumbling."  
  
"What kind of rumbling?"  
  
"Like something's shifting." She placed an ear upon a wall, and said, "Like the walls are shifting."  
  
"What do you mean, 'like the walls are shifting'?" Mouse questioned, forgetting about the Principle Office's capability to alter its maze-like corridors' structure. "I don't understand."  
  
"It's like the walls are changing their positioning," she explained. She slammed the bottom of her trident on the floor, and shouted, "Megabyte's going to make us all even more lost than we already are!"  
  
"Look at the bright side, AndrAIa -- it'll make the Virus's job in finding us all the harder," Mouse tried to cheer up her companion.  
  
"Maybe, but I still don't like the premise of things right now, no matter how far or close to Megabyte we are."  
  
"I agree completely. But forget about Megabyte for now; which path should we take?"  
  
AndrAIa closer her eyes, waved her hand in front of her face, and pointed. She left her hand in the air, opened her eyes, and found that she had picked the path second from the right.  
  
"Let's do it then," Mouse said as she started stepping in that direction.  
  
But, before they could make any progress down the chosen path, a wall inexplicably dropped from the ceiling, cutting them off, and then the rest of the walls around them also shifted until they were in the middle of a fourway intersection.  
  
"Blast it!" Mouse scolded the shifting walls, once again throwing her katana and dagger in rage. "We're never going to get out of this maze online!"  
  
AndrAIa nodded, thinking about how much she just wanted to be cuddling with Matrix in a safe spot and just let the rest of the system take care of themselves. But, she finally decided that they couldn't stop and give up, because if Megabyte successfully deleted everyone who was lost in the Principle Office corrdiors, there wouldn't be a rest of the system to take care of themselves, and the thought of her adoptive home being put to shambles by a lowly Virus sickened her. So, she coaxed Mouse, suggesting, "Once we find Bob and Matrix, and whoever else is running through these corridors, we can rest. But until then, we should keep moving. Now get up and follow me." She waited for a nano and started making her way down the corridor to her left, and looking back, watched Mouse pick up her weapons and follow her.  
  
--**--**--  
  
From the War Room, the infected Welman watched in a vidwindow as the legion of Sweepers advanced on his son and Bob, and in another, the walls where Mouse and AndrAIa were shift. He let out a bellowing laugh, and turned to Viral Phong, who was also chuckling at the activity that was going on in the maze-like corridors.  
  
"Do you suppose they'll make it very far to the Holding Cell Room?" the scientist asked Phong, curious of his thoughts, and speaking of Mouse and his possible daughter-in-law-to-be.  
  
"If they can pick the right paths to choose, anything is possible," he responded. "As for Bob and Matrix trying to reach us here, I believe the Sweepers will provide something of a challenge for them, even if they do take them offline in a short time."  
  
Welman nodded in agreement. He then looked at the vidwindow where Dot and her bodyguards were, and sighed, bored and disappointed that nothing had yet happened to them, save for the little fight that had erupted between the two bot brothers.  
  
"Indeed she is a smart one," Phong said of Dot, noticing Welman's gaze. "Always coming up with plans, is she. But for her, to fight Megabyte would be to shut yourself offline."  
  
"Perhaps," Welman said before turning away from the line of vidwindows, and looking down upon his master's mindless drones, all of who worked restlessly at their stations. "But perhaps she may come up with a plan yet, and with those two bumbling fools, if they ever get their act together, they may put up enough of a fight to make our lord work up even the slightest of a sweat...nah."  
  
"Ha-ha-ha," Phong laughed, though he was mainly distracted, as the fight between Bob and Matrix and the Sweepers began. "This will be interesting."  
  
--**--**--  
  
Bob and Matrix prepared themselves for the onslaught of Sweepers that were slowly advancing on them from all sides.  
  
"Are you ready Bob?" Matrix questioned his friend through gritted teeth, before commanding Gun to go into Cherry Blossom mode, which would target all the Sweepers.  
  
"Without a doubt," he told him. "Glitch, multi-blast mode."  
  
Partway through Bob's sentence, though, the Sweeper closest to him shot out a blast he had to dodge. The rest of the Sweepers then started shooting at Bob and Matrix, and despite their current situation, a slight grin appeared on the renegade's face, for he fed off of action.  
  
"Aaahhh!" Matrix bellowed, springing up straight and running towards one of the Sweepers, shooting at the ones behind it. When he got close enough, he kicked the cleaning tool dead on, and then shot it three times in its 'torso'. He then yelled out, "Bob, get down!" and commanded Gun, "Shoot, now!"  
  
Bob immediately dropped to the floor, as did Matrix, while Gun began spinning rapidly in the air, shooting laser blasts at all of the targeted Sweepers. But, before all of the Sweepers could be destroyed, Gun stopped spinning, and a small red light started blinking as the near-sentient weapon beeped in a distressful tone.  
  
"What's wrong with it?" Bob asked as Glitch turned into an energy-composed arm-shield. "It looks like it's tired."  
  
"By the User," muttered Matrix, dropping his head and shaking it, clenching his hands into tight fists.  
  
"What, Matrix? What's wrong with your gun?"  
  
He looked at Bob and stated, "It's out of energy."  
  
"What?"  
  
"It used all of its energy up."  
  
"I thought guns' energy supply lasted a long time," Bob said, wondering why Gun was so different, and blocking a barrage of laser blasts from the advancing Sweepers.  
  
"They do, but it's been a while since I refilled Gun. Since a few Games ago," he said.  
  
"A few Games ago? It hasn't been that long since we last went into a Game, and even then, you haven't used Gun in a while. Not since we tricked Megabyte."  
  
Realizing that he still wasn't used to being back in Mainframe, Matrix apologized, "I mean since one of the last few times AndrAIa and I hopped a Game. Since then, there hasn't been much need for me to use Gun, and I forgot to re-energize it." He retracted Gun back to his hand, put it in its sheath on his leg, and dove at a nearby Sweeper that he had to dodge a few blasts from, ripped off its swinging arms, and used them to impale the side of its body and cut it in half. He then ducked as another Sweeper shot at him, and turned to see it strike an unsuspecting Bob in the arm.  
  
"Bob!" he called out, rushing to the injured Guardian, who had grabbed the spot of his arm where the blast had struck. "Are you okay?"  
  
"I'll make it," Bob said, still clasping his arm. "Just watch yourself." He then looked down at Glitch and ordered it to heal his arm, while Matrix stood up and quickly counted how many more Sweepers there were -- thirty-two.  
  
"I don't like the looks of this," he grumbled, looking back down at Bob, who Glitch had finished healing.  
  
The Guardian took in his surroundings and sighed, "Me neither Matrix." He stood up and backed up so he and Matrix were once again back-to-back, and anticipated another onslaught of the cleaning tools, who kept slowly advancing on them.  
  
A few of them shot at the two, but to Bob and Matrix's surprise and delight, before any of the Sweepers could get much closer to them, the walls inexplicably shifted around them, isolating them from their attackers.  
  
"What in the Net?" Matrix blurted, looking around in all directions, trying to figure out what had just happened. "What in the name of the User happened to the walls?"  
  
"They shifted," Bob pointed out the obvious. "It must be another action of the Principle Office's defence system, though I'm sure if Megabyte can see this now, he'd be cursing himself for activating it."  
  
"I'm not so sure of that, Bob," Matrix started, retrieving an energy plug from his belt and replacing Gun's spent one with it. "I mean, Megabyte did say to prepare for a hunt, so maybe right now he's just -"  
  
"Trying to weaken us before confronting us, or is keeping us busy while he hunts everyone else, so he can save us for last," Bob finished. "I should've known Megabyte would try something like this."  
  
"No matter what Megabyte's doing, we have to find everyone else before the bastard Virus does," Matrix suggested.  
  
"It's going to be a hard thing to do if the walls keep shifting like this," Bob said, "but you're right -- we can't let Megabyte harm anyone."  
  
Matrix, finishing recharging Gun, chimed in, "And if he does, he'll wish I had deleted him the first time around, and not let him escape into the Web."  
  
The two then turned and went down the only path there was, eager to save their friends and inflict their revenge on Megabyte.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	2. The Hunt Begins, Part II

Reboot: Condition Critical,  
1.1, The Hunt Begins  
  
---------------------  
  
Mega-Enzo continued walking down the corridor, not yet turning at any intersection, as he was tracking those closest to the War Room...his first prey -- the Hacker and former Game Sprite. Mouse and AndrAIa.  
  
His new Trojan Horse abilities had not only given him the ability to shape-shift and create aliases, but a plethora of others, including the improved ability to track anything he wanted to prey on, which at the moment was the two battle-hardened, warrior-like women.  
  
"The two bumbling fools really should be my first, simply because of their stupidity," he mused as he carelessly crept down the hall, "but I suppose I can only blame myself for that, and the lovely Ms. Matrix is with them, and I have other plans for her."  
  
He pondered about what he had in store for Dot, and thought about doing the same to his current prey, but after thinking it over, decided against it for several reasons.  
  
"It must only be her," he growled in the little Enzo Matrix's squeaky, high-pitched voice, "or else it mustn't be at all."  
  
--**--**--  
  
Dot and the bot brothers had stopped again, this time in the centre of an intersection, and they were deciding which way to go because the linear path they had chosen to follow had shifted just a few millies ago when the walls shifted, something the Command.Com had been anticipating, for she had memorized most of the Principle Office's defence system's mechanism, save for the last few Phong had installed during and after the whole Daemon ordeal.  
  
"Which way do you think we should go, boys?" Dot asked, partially trying to make the brothers feel like they were needed in the situation, and partially not knowing herself and not wanting to make a decision that may end up being fatal in the end.  
  
"Maybe we should go left," Hack suggested, rubbing his chrome dome.  
  
"Right," Slash agreed.  
  
"No, left," Hack said, thinking his brother had disagreed with him.  
  
"Right."  
  
"No, left."  
  
"Right," the blue bot repeated for the third time in a row, too slow to realize what was transpiring.  
  
"Left."  
  
"Right."  
  
"Left."  
  
"Right."  
  
"Lef-" Hack began, but was cut off when Dot smacked the side of his head, annoyed by their stupid 'disagreement'. "What was that for?" he cried out, caressing the spot he been hit with his hands.  
  
"For being so stup-" he started before biting her tongue as she realized what she was about to say. "I mean, for being so, uh, well, stupid. Yeah. Stupid."  
  
"It was his fault," Slash accused, pointing to his brother, who was still milking his slapped spot. "It was all him -- he said to go left, and I agreed with him, and he thought I was disagreeing with him."  
  
"What did you just say?" Hack questioned, infuriatingly.  
  
Dot stepped in front of Hack and repeated the angry bot's question, "Yeah, what did you just say?" only more curious than infuriated, as she was intrigued how Slash had solved the problem on his own, something everyone always thought was an impossible feat for either of Megabyte's former right-hand men.  
  
"What do you mean?" Slash asked.  
  
"You said, 'It was all him -- he said to go left, and I agreed with him, and he thought I was disagreeing with him', didn't you?"  
  
"Yes. I'm sorry."  
  
"No, don't be sorry -- you just did something smart."  
  
"I did?"  
  
"Yes. You just figured out what was happening, proving you have logic after all," the Command.Com explained, expressing herself more with her free-flying hands than vocal expression. "I'm simply amazed."  
  
"Uh, thank you," Slash said, still not entirely clear on what was going on. "I do it all the time."  
  
Dot smiled, as she knew the bot was confused about her words, and simply said, "Let's keep moving boys -- we don't want to get caught by Megabyte or any of the dangerous defence mechanisms."  
  
The brothers agreed, and followed Dot as she turned down the left corridor, the way Slash had suggested they take.  
  
--**--**--  
  
Mouse and AndrAIa were standing still, back-to-back, AndrAIa's ears perked, as she had heard a faint voice come from behind them in the distance, and it sounded somewhat like Enzo.  
  
"Do you think it's really him?" Mouse questioned, tightly gripping her katana and dagger. "It's possible it's Megabyte."  
  
"What do you mean, Mouse?"  
  
"Face it sug', we never saw the little Sprite and his dad get out of the War Room, meaning Megabyte could've taken either of their forms, and none of us would know it's him because we all completely trust the two of them," the Hacker explained, leaning in close to AndrAIa and talking in a whisper. "It'd be the perfect plan, and a likely one for Megabyte to use."  
  
"Maybe so, but we can't take that chance, Mouse. I mean, if it really is little sparky, we have to help him," the former Game Sprite said. "Besides, if it is Megabyte, he won't be able to take on both of us."  
  
"AndrAIa, it's like Phong said -- we don't know the extent to the Virus's new powers. In his fight with Bob and when we captured the alias, he could've just been playing weak to deceit us so he could come here and do this little hunt thing of his, and take us all by surprise. That's not a chance I really want to take, especially not in a time like this."  
  
AndrAIa was surprised by Mouse's words, and retaliated by saying, "Look Mouse, we're either to get out of here online, or we're not, so there's no sense in playing safe if we're just going to get deleted, and I by no means want to go out knowing I turned my back on Enzo. I love Matrix, Mouse, and as a result, I have those same feelings for little Enzo. So for me to not try to help him is for me to give up on Matrix, and if we do come out of this intact, that's not a feeling I want to live with for the rest of my life, especially not when I'd have to see him, or rather both of them, every second. So if you're just going to stand here and not even try to find out if it's really Enzo, or just Megabyte, that's fine by me, but I won't be here with you." She then walked away from Mouse in the direction of where Enzo's voice was coming from.  
  
But, after she took a few strides, she heard footsteps advancing behind her. She turned to see Mouse, and said, "I'm glad you change your mind."  
  
"Well, it's not every second I find myself trapped like an actual mouse in a maze," she said with a smile. "And besides, I could never let a youngen be alone in such a dangerous scenario."  
  
AndrAIa smiled, and continued walking, and was glad that Mouse had decided to join her, for she herself wasn't entirely sure it was actually the real Enzo whose voice she was hearing, and not just Megabyte in cloak.  
  
"Just be ready for anything, AndrAIa," Mouse warned, just half a footstep behind. "If it is Megabyte, who knows what kind of tricks he'll try to play on us."  
  
"Right." AndrAIa then stopped, and strained her ears to hear Enzo's voice again, but she heard nothing, save for light footsteps headed in their immediate direction. "Mouse," she said as quietly she could, turning back to face the Hacker, "stay behind a bit and keep out of site, just in case it is Megabyte. That way, we can take him by surprise if he tries to attack me."  
  
"Are you sure? I said before that we don't know the extent to his abilities. It could be safer if I were with you," she suggested.  
  
"No, it's okay; I have my nails and wrist blades," AndrAIa reminder her friend, raising her hands in the air and flaunting her teal, barely extended wrist blades, with which she was accustomed to using in tight situations, such as when she had faced off with the infected Guardian in the Port system where she and Matrix ran into Captain Capacitor and the crew of the Saucy Mare. "I'm not scared."  
  
It was a lie, and they both knew it, though neither said anything of it because they both knew that pursuing the possible Enzo could very well end up resulting in their deletions. So Mouse remained behind in the shadows while AndrAIa moved towards where the footsteps were coming in an attempt to meet halfway.  
  
"Good luck, AndrAIa," Mouse let out with a deep exhale. She tightly gripped her katana and dagger, and kept an eye on the former Game Sprite, ready to leap into action the nano she was needed.  
  
--**--**--  
  
Bob and Matrix had been walking for nearly half a cycle, and had yet to come across an intersection or sidepath in the corridor they were on. And even though the corridor had twists and turns in it, it still didn't keep the linear path from getting on their nerves, enough even to make them wish the walls hadn't shifted and they were still back fighting the once innocent-looking Sweepers.  
  
"Spammit to Dell!" Matrix cursed, turning to pound on the wall. "This corridor's been going on for only the User knows how long!" He continued beating up on the wall, and Bob, knowing better, kept his distance and let the renegade get his frustration out, while he himself stood quietly wondering how the rest of his friends were doing.  
  
He and Matrix had been in the Holding Cell Room when they realized the Megabyte they had caught was just an alias, and they had been on their way to the War Room when Megabyte's announcement came on through the PAs, so he really no idea how everyone had managed, and who was with who if the survivors had been split into groups. And to make matters worse, all the Guardian could think about was how stupid and careless he had been for not realizing sooner that they had captured an alias, and not the real thing.  
  
"I should've known," he quietly said, arms crossed, and staring down at the floor. "I should've known."  
  
While Bob mused over what he thought was his blindness even though anyone could've made the mistake, and everyone actually did, Matrix had finished punching the wall because he wanted to save his fists for Megabyte's face, and had resorted to kicking it with his heavy boots.  
  
The two continued to deal with their frustration in their own ways until out of the silence came a familiar buzzing sound.  
  
Bob's head cocked up, as did Matrix's, who had stopped kicking the wall, and was now facing the direction where the buzzing was coming from.  
  
"By the User!" the renegade exclaimed. "It's the Sweepers again, Bob."  
  
"Yeah, but how many? We were lucky to get out online last time; if there are more, we're as good as being in the Recycle Bin."  
  
Matrix shivered at the thought of the Recycle Bin, a place dreaded even more than the Fun House Game, both of which he had heard many stories about throughout his hours, and quickly retrained his thought on the approaching cleaning tools-turned-lethal defence mechanism. "Let's do this, Bob."  
  
"Right."  
  
With that, the two began running head on towards the Sweepers, and when they were in sight, Matrix took the first shot with Gun, and also the second and third, and then Bob finally shot a couple Sweepers with Glitch's energy blasts.  
  
The Sweepers returned fire, and their sheer numbers, about fifty-two as Matrix counted, forced the two to return, as they were vastly outnumbered and didn't stand a chance.  
  
"This is pathetic," the once-Guardian complained.  
  
"What is, Matrix?"  
  
"We're being outdone by a bunch of lousy cleaning tools."  
  
"Correction -- a bunch of lousy cleaning tools modified to have highly advanced defensive weapons for use in dealing with security breaches in the Principle Office," Bob stated.  
  
"No one asked for you to get technical."  
  
Bob laughed. "I'm sorry, Matrix; it's my Guardian programming."  
  
Matrix nodded, and remembered about the little bit of Guardian code that was in him, and wondered why it wasn't kicking in. He soon after shrugged it off as unimportant at the moment, as he heard the Sweepers slowly advancing on his and Bob's location. "What are we going to do?"  
  
"Stand and fight? What else are we supposed to do?"  
  
"I don't know, you're the Guardian..."  
  
"And you're the Game-hopping renegade."  
  
"Yeah, but in all my hours, I've never run into a large pack of lethal Sweepers out to get my ASCII," Matrix came back, picking off a Sweeper he could faintly make out in the darkness of the corridor. "But you on the other hand seem to have lots of past experience with them. Care to fill me in on anything?"  
  
"Just because I know something about Sweepers," Bob jokingly whined, trying to relieve some of the tension that was building in the near-deletion situation. "But there was that one time..."  
  
"No time for it now," Matrix interrupted him, shooting five blasts off with Gun. "Gun, Cherry Blossom mode!"  
  
Gun left Matrix's hand and began spinning, attaching targeting patches to all the Sweepers in its range.  
  
"Bob, get down! Gun, shoot!" Matrix commanded, dropping to the ground to avoid getting hit by any wild or deflected shot of Gun's.  
  
Gun's spinning became even more faster and rapid, and it started shooting at the Sweepers, sparks flying everywhere. It continued until it sensed all of its targets offline, and returned to Matrix's waiting hand, the renegade immediately jumping to his feet, Bob doing the same.  
  
"Good job, Gun," he said, patting the top of it. "Now to finish off the stragglers." He took a few steps and shot the remaining Sweepers, turned to Bob, who had a mixed look of shock and surprise on his face, and asked, "Now what were you saying before about Sweepers?"  
  
--**--**--  
  
Mega-Enzo could sense his prey, only they weren't moving away from him, but rather backtracking towards him.  
  
"The fools," he snickered, starting to think about what he should do when the three of them met up. "They're walking right into my trap. And frankly, I would've thought Mouse to be smarter than this."  
  
The Virus-in-disguise rubbed his chin as he came up the perfect way to destroy Mouse and AndrAIa, so he then prepared himself to act in part of Enzo, as not to give away his guise.  
  
"This is going to be pixelacious!" he tried out one of the young Sprite's key phrases. After hearing himself say it though, his entire body shivered. "I can't believe I just said that," he mused, a bit disgusted with himself due to his having a high standard of his vocabulary, and that of little Enzo coming nowhere near to matching that of his own. "But if it must be done, it must be done. And my revenge must be done."  
  
He then turned a corner and saw the faint outline of AndrAIa's body moving closer in the distance.  
  
"AndrAIa!" he called out, running towards her full speed. "AndrAIa, it's me, Enzo! This is alphanumeric!"  
  
The vixen seemed as though she couldn't see through his charade.  
  
--**--**--  
  
Walking, AndrAIa stayed close to one of the walls, as it provided the most shadow to act as a cover. She didn't want to be out in the direct open if Megabyte decided to activate anymore of the Principle Office's defence mechanisms.  
  
She then saw Enzo running towards her, calling out her name.  
  
"Little sparky!" she shouted back, still remaining partially in the shadows. "Where's your dad?"  
  
"Mega Breath got him," he said sadly, still running to her. "But I was still able to get out because I'm too good for that stupid Virus."  
  
They finally reached each other, and hugged.  
  
--**--**--  
  
Mouse was in the shadows close to where AndrAIa and Enzo were, and heard the young Sprite eagerly inquire, "Where's Mouse?" He was looking around to see if he could find her whereabouts himself. "Wasn't she with you when you left the War Room?"  
  
"Yeah she was, but then we got separated when the walls shifted," she bluntly lied, not wanting to give up Mouse's cover in case it really was Megabyte. She withdrew from the hug, and asked, "How was Phong when you got out of the War Room? Was he inf-"  
  
"Yes," Enzo solemnly said before AndrAIa could finish her sentence. "And was my dad. But it doesn't matter because we can kick Megabyte's ASCII from here to the Supercomputer!"  
  
"Ha-ha," AndrAIa laughed, thankful for the young Sprite's relieving the tension that had been felt since Megabyte's threatening announcement. "I wish we could, but we're only three -- we should try to find Bob, Matrix, Dot, and the boys before doing anything. That way we'll be able to attack in numbers."  
  
"Three? But I thought you said you and Mouse got separated by the shifting walls?"  
  
"Yeah, I did, didn't I?" She decided it really was Enzo, because she figured Megabyte would never be able to act all that well as a young, energetic Sprite, especially Enzo, so she explained, "We weren't sure if you escaped the War Room or not, so you could've been Megabyte using his Trojan Horse abilities, so we decided to lie just in case so Mouse could back me up if you were Megabyte. I'm sorry for lying, little sparky."  
  
Mouse then watched as AndrAIa turned to summon her over, and saw Enzo's body start to mutate in some way. Realizing AndrAIa had been fooled, Mouse shouted, "AndrAIa! Look behind you!"  
  
The former Game Sprite spun around, but it was too late -- Enzo was standing innocently.  
  
"What is it, Mouse?" AndrAIa questioned, turning back to face Mouse.  
  
"It's not Enzo!" she shouted, running towards them. "It's Megabyte! Get away from him! It's Megabyte!"  
  
AndrAIa was looking at Mouse in confusion, and the Hacker was getting closer to her and Enzo, but before she could reach them, the walls began shifting again.  
  
"Curse the User!" Mouse hissed, as a wall shifted to block her off from AndrAIa and Enzo. "Now she's alone with Megabyte! Spammit!"  
  
Mouse dropped to her knees, and letting her katana and dagger slip out of her hands, began crying, for she had just let her friend down, and because of it, AndrAIa was probably going to be deleted by the predatory Virus without knowing it was him until it was too late.  
  
--**--**--  
  
Slash was still confused about Dot's reaction to him blaming his brother for causing their latest argument, but he remained quiet about it as they slowly tried to make their way to the Cell Holding Room, for he didn't want to distract Dot from her planning, as he knew that at the moment she was his and his brother's only hope at surviving their former master's devious plans.  
  
"Boys," Dot started, "when Phong rebuilt you two, did he do any alterations to you?"  
  
"What do you mean?" Slash asked, both him and Hack agreeing that he should be their spokesman, as Hack wasn't as bright as his brother.  
  
"Like, did he give you guys any extra data, or alter your coding, or anything like that?"  
  
"I can't really remember," the blue bot told her. He then turned to Hack and asked, "Do you remember?"  
  
"Remember what?"  
  
"What she said."  
  
"Yeah, she said, 'like, did he give you guys any-'" he started, but stopped when his brother smacked the side of his head. "What was that for?"  
  
"For being you," Slash responded, shaking his head in something that could be considered disgust. "I meant do you remember if Phong changed anything about us when he put us back together?"  
  
"Not that I can remember, but I do know that he installed maps of Mainframe in us so we could protect Dot better."  
  
Dot smacked her own forehead with her hand, while Slash shook his head again, this time fully in disgust, as at the moment he couldn't believe he and his brother were of the same model, and the same version at that.  
  
"What? What did I do?"  
  
"Forget it," Dot told him. "Now tell me again, what kind of maps did Phong install in you two?"  
  
"Well, I think he only put them in me, and then in Slash, he put the k-" he was silenced by Dot's hand in his mouth, who said, "I don't care who has the maps; I just want to know what they're of."  
  
"Oh. They're maps of Mainframe. Some are of the entire system, some of Lost Angles, some of the different sectors, some of the Principle Office, some of -"  
  
"Okay," she interrupted him. She put a hand on Hack's shoulder and asked, "What format are the maps? Text or Vid?"  
  
"Both, why?"  
  
"Show me the Vid versions of the ones of the Principle Office," the Command.Com instructed.  
  
Hack did as she requested, and loaded up several Vidwindows, each with live-action maps of the Principle Office, though only an outline of the corridors and the different rooms.  
  
"This is great," she said aloud while silently thanking the User. "The maps change according to how the walls shift. With this, it'll take us no time to get to the Holding Cell Room."  
  
Hearing this, Hack and Slash hugged each other, and Dot once again thanked the User, this time out loud.  
  
"Hack, you keep a look out, while Slash, you do the same, but keep this map up," she pointed to the most detailed map, "so I can navigate us to the Holding Cell Room."  
  
"Roger," Slash said.  
  
"Roger?" Hack asked.  
  
"Don't," said Slash, using the one word for a purpose, as Hack could now tell his brother wasn't looking to get into another one of their stupid arguments, which they often had over nothing.  
  
Both of them then shut up, loaded their hands into laser cannons, and listened as Dot co-ordinated their movements according to the shifting walls, which they found by looking at the map, appeared to be shifting in no particular pattern in random spots of the Principle Office.  
  
After a while of changing their paths according to the shifting walls, and half the time feeling as though they were travelling in a circle, they reached the outside of the Holding Cell Room.  
  
"Hack, cover Slash while he checks out the room," Dot ordered.  
  
"Right." He extended both arms in front of him and watched as his brother entered the room, the door opening after sensing his presence, and checked it out. He came out a milli later, and looked Dot in the eyes.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"It's empty."  
  
"No, it can't be," Dot stammered, tears building up in her eyes. "It just can't be."  
  
"What do we do now, Dot?" Slash questioned, patting the Command.Com's shoulder. "Do we stay here, keep looking for Bob and Matrix, or go back to the War Room?"  
  
"Yeah," Hack chimed in, "what do we do?"  
  
Letting the tears out and shaking her head in sorrow, she replied, "I don't know, boys. I don't know."  
  
--**--**--  
  
"What was up with Mouse?" AndrAIa asked Enzo after repeatedly jousting the wall that separated them from Mouse with her trident. "She thinks you're Megabyte."  
  
"I don't know," the young Sprite responded, shrugging his shoulders. "Maybe her circuit's overheating."  
  
"Be nice, little sparky," AndrAIa said, trying to keep in her laughter. She then retracted her trident and hooked it to her belt. She stared at the wall for a milli and then turend to Enzo and said, "I don't know if we should look for Mouse now, or just keep on our way to the Holding Cell Room to meet up with Bob and Matrix."  
  
"I don't know about Mouse," he started. "I mean, she was acting kind of weird, don't you think? She thought I was Megabyte back there."  
  
"You're right; it's not like Mouse to go around accusing people of things like that without any proof, and before we came looking for you, she said she wasn't going to because she didn't trust you, and then decided to when I said I was and was ready to leave her alone," the former Game Sprite informed her boyfriend's younger self. "But still, we can't be sure, can we? I mean, Megabyte was in the War Room and didn't have a chance to copy Mouse's code."  
  
"Well, Mega Breath was an alias in the War Room and fooled Bob and Matrix, and ended up being Frisket, and no one would've suspected him because no one thought Megabyte had the chance to copy his code, but he did, and probably created an alias to take Frisket's form so he could pull this trick and confuse us all!"  
  
"Whoa, whoa, don't go into overdrive, little sparky," she said, putting her hand on his shoulder to calm him. "If the Megabyte in the War Room really is an alias, then we're all in even more danger, so the first thing we should do is try to find Bob and Matrix, because they've been together since the wedding, so in order for Megabyte to copy on of their codes, he'd have to be witnessed doing so by one or the other," AndrAIa concluded. "I think you're right -- we leave Mouse to herself, and concentrate on finding Bob and Matrix. I mean, she can defend herself, right? She was able to escape from the Guardians in that one story she told us when we, I mean when I, was younger, right? I would imagine she could at least hold off Megabyte on her own."  
  
"Right."  
  
"So let's go find Bob and Matrix." She took off down the only path there was, Enzo close behind, on their way to find Bob and Matrix.  
  
--**--**--  
  
Mega-Enzo followed AndrAIa closely behind, and laughing to himself in his mind, thought, "My revenge has begun." 


	3. Announcement

Reboot: Condition Critical,  
  
Announcement  
  
---------------------  
  
A/N: This is an important announcement regarding "Condition Critical".  
  
---------------------  
  
I've lost my feel for Reboot. That's why I haven't updated this in so long - I can't feel it. This may only be a temporary thing that I'll recover from whenever, but until then, I'm going to pull a Mainframe Entertainment and leave you all with this cliffhanger. I'm sorry to disappoint those who read and enjoy "Condition Critical", but what would you rather choose - I continue this without the flow of the first two chapters, and have the characters become flat; or I wait until I regain a feel for Reboot and continue writing it then, hopefully to the same level set by the first two chapters? Needless to say I've picked the latter, so while I wait, I'm going to work on some original ideas of mine that I wouldn't mind trying to get published when they're finished. So, until my return to the realm of Reboot fanfiction, thank you to all of my readers, and hopefully you'll be here when I get back. 


	4. Announcement Two

Reboot: Condition Critical,  
  
Announcement Two  
  
---------------------  
  
A/N: This is an important announcement regarding "Condition Critical".  
  
---------------------  
  
I don't want to jump the gun or anything here, but I'm currently returning to work on Condition Critical while I take a little break from my novel-in-progress. So yeah, expect more of CC in the next week or so, if not in the next couple of days. 


End file.
